Sam was trying his best to meet with Yodha for the past few days, but he was not able to get in touch with him. Every time, he tried, he was told that Yodha is in a special meeting with the emperor regarding a special discussion.
But he didn't want to delay this too much, even though there is not much for him to do back in his home planet, he didn't want to stay away from that. The Major powers would have already recognized that their top geniuses are all disappeared for a year.
From what Sam learned from Arkiv, they are all on the expedition in the Central Continent. That is what they gave to their respective sect elders so that they can create a perfect ruse. But that is not going to be easy.
Since it involves the prodigies of all the major powers, it would be difficult to keep the matter on the down-low and they would start searching.
If they find out Sam also disappeared with them, then they might think of ways to get back at his organization. Even though they would still worry about their own geniuses, they would still focus on getting a piece of the fat and juicy meat which is his own organization.
Philip, Watt, and Jack will not be able to handle the situation alone. They could maintain it to some extent, but they wouldn't be able to maintain it for so long.
He should move and make an appearance in three months and also introduce his new ships and the engines to the market.
That way, he can also use that as a way to fool them to think, that he was busy with the research and that is the reason he didn't appear for this year. He can avoid any relation to the mysterious disappearance of the prodigies.
One night, Sam is practicing his mental cultivation in his cottage and all of a sudden, his divine dimension reacted a message appeared in his mind telling him to enter the dimension.
Sam looked a little surprised and looked at the crystal. He immediately entered the crystal and he didn't appear at the tower door like he does every time, rather he appeared in another floor which he never opened.
This is the fourth floor of the tower. Sam was stunned by this as he didn't expect that this would open this quickly.
The fourth floor is not as big as the first three, it is actually very small and there are only one screen and a podium inside this room.
On the screen, LingTian appeared once again.
This time, Sam is not surprised anymore. He asked even before that guy can talk.
"When am I going to meet that Gambler?"
He asked as if he was tired of seeing Ling Tian every time.
"Hello, Sam.
It is good to see you again.
Now I am here to tell you something. A new mode of the game is now introduced to test the Players. This is called Point mode.
From now on, after every Palace of Inheritance was over, this Point mode will be activated with different games between the Players.
The first game is going to be One Vs Eleven others. The game's name is the Black Horse.
In this game, one player was selected as a Black horse and he has a task to finish and the rest of the players has to use any means necessary to stop the Black horse.
Everyone will get points based on their performance and those points would be useful in the final Palace of Inheritance you will encounter.
Now, you can see the details of the Black Horse Game."
With that, Ling Tian's image disappeared and the screen showed some text regarding the task.
The game is concise and simple. There are six herbs Sam has to obtain and they all belong to Naga Loka, but they will be on different planets and what surprised him is that he is the Black horse. He has to gather these six herbs and when he looked at their names, he frowned. Because these herbs are not exactly suitable for farming them in bulk.
They can either grow them individually without any other herbs and in a single unit at that or they can only find it wild.
He has to assemble these six herbs and the remaining eleven candidates will have to find ways to stop Sam at any cost.
They can fight him, they can steal from him and they can even kill him.
The game duration is six months and everyone's performance will be evaluated individually. They will get the points.
At this moment, a small metallic disc with a crystallized surface appeared on the podium and every player has to take this.
Sam walked towards it and when he touched it, it immediately moved and seemed to have entered the palm on his hand.
It looked like it was embedded into the left palm and only the crystal surface was visible outside. Sam frowned at this. He didn't want something unknown in his body, as he thought of removing it, the crystal surface disappeared.
After that, with another thought, it reappeared again and when he thought of what its use is, it showed the number 180 on it showing the time limit of six months.
With another thought, it disappeared. He moved his hand and tried some spiritual energy circulations, there is no change, it didn't change anything at all.
After that, he once again looked at the list of the herbs on the screen and also the details regarding their location.
The game's difficulty didn't lie in finding their location, because they already gave the details about the planet in which it can grow.
Sam went down to the first floor and started searching up for the details regarding the six herbs, their living conditions, qualities of the herbs, their uses and many more.
When he looked through them, he didn't know if he should laugh or cry. The herbs here are of high-grade. They are mostly used for the Transcendent cultivators. He didn't read the exact uses, but he has to find out.
But the thing is, he has to find out a way to get them.
And there is one restriction in this game to Sam and that is he cannot leave the Naga Loka within the duration of the game or until the game is over completely.
Sam is having a headache with this. He would very much want to smack that gambler until he couldn't recognize his face from his ass. He doesn't know how he ended up as the Black Horse, but his gut feeling is telling him that this is not just a lottery.
As Sam is thinking, he came out only to meet with Arkiv.
"What do you want?"
Sam asked with a frown; he knew that the whole game this time around revolved around him and he is the target of all of them. He has to be wary. But for some weird reason, he didn't feel any hostility from this guy.
"You do know you are the target of this, right? I will be magnanimous because of the help you have done and will not mess with you for the first two months, if you were able to finish the game before that, I am fine with that.
But if you didn't, then I will definitely try my best to stop you."
"Thanks." Sam heaved a sigh of relief. Arkiv turned around and left the place.
As for Arman, Sam didn't worry too much. Even if that guy managed to find an ounce of mental strength by any chance, when met in the battle, Sam is sure that he would face the trauma, he himself inflicted on him.
There is no way he would get past that. It is like the fear of snakes inflicted in the genes of the whole human race. Even though some people have extremely less fear or none at all, most of them fear it. It was ingrained by the generations of humans being attacked by the snakes and dying in their hands.
Now, Sam's treatment made Arman develop that kind of fear.
The only immediate problem is Noah.
She didn't stay with Sam and others and left for Army after the Palace is over.
She didn't want to associate with them.
As for the remaining candidates, they can try and find him first.
Sam went to the Navy base and conducted a session of training and sent a raven to Yodha. He has to ask some questions before he could go to other planets, but before that, he also has to find the herb that is within this planet.
It is not exactly an herb. It is actually a flower.
The conditions are also severe. It is a fire-type flower called the Magma lotus.
The lotus can only be grown when some Magma streams are merging into a single magma pool. The lava shouldn't move from the pool to the outside, rather the pool should be the collection point of the lava.
